The present invention relates to a method for increasing the driving stability of a vehicle, particularly of a commercial vehicle, which counteracts a vehicle instability by a control intervention in a control system operating the drive and/or the brakes of the vehicle.
Critical situations in commercial vehicles include in particular skidding, jackknifing between tractor and trailer as well as overturning. Methods of the species for reducing the hazard of overturning are understood to be available. For example, within the scope of so-called roll stability systems, commercial vehicles are to be prevented from overturning by targeted engine torque and/or braking interventions.
As characterized, a method of the species according to German Patent Document 198 56 303 provides for measuring the lateral acceleration while cornering and for ascertaining a state variable correlating to the centrifugal acceleration affecting the center of gravity and for calculating the roll angle of the vehicle from the difference weighted by a factor between the measured component of the lateral acceleration and the ascertained centrifugal acceleration. Variable characteristic quantities of the vehicle, by contrast, such as the current location of the center of gravity of the vehicle, which becomes a variable quantity because of the current load condition, do not enter into the turnover sensing. In addition to the current lateral acceleration, the height of the center of gravity, however, is also essential for the turnover resistance, particularly in commercial vehicles that can be loaded and are therefore variable with respect to the height of the center of gravity. Taken by itself, however, this variable can be measured or calculated only with much effort. German patent document no. 197 51 935, for example, refers to a method for ascertaining the height of the center of gravity that is comparatively complex.
By contrast, the present invention is based on the objective of developing further a method of the kind mentioned at the outset in such a way that the respective height of the center of gravity of the vehicle is taken into account without necessitating complex or expensive sensors or measurements for this purpose.